Those of you familiar with the history of the Jaguar should remember the
original pack-in, Cybermorph. At the time, Cybermorph was arguably the best
game of its kind. It was a polygon based 3D shooter that was enormous, and
it wasn't on rails! It allowed free 360 movement, and it single handedly
made 'gouraud shading' a household term. Although it was deep, intriguing,
and fairly ground breaking, it just wasn't all that fun. Fortunately the
programmers at Atari realized some of the problems and fixed them in
Cybermorph's sequel, BattleMorph.

BattleMorph takes place many years after the original title. Unlike the
'save the pods' nature of the first game, BattleMorph's theme is a little
more malevolent. This time you're heading into Pernertian territory in an
attempt to wipe out their home worlds. We're talking about mass genocide
here, and the game reflects it!

Game play and control are both right where they should be. BattleMorph
doesn't exactly forget it's roots. It's still business as usual collecting
pods, but now there's alot more action and variety in your objectives.
Sometimes the objective is to find 1 or 2 particular objects... possibly
enemy plans or parts to a new weapon. Sometimes the objective is to shut
down a power source for a force field. Sometimes the objective is simply to
find something and blow the living out of it! BattleMorph also introduces
bosses. Once you've cleared all planets in one cluster, you get to fight a
Pernertian General on the main planet in that cluster. Prepare yourself to
lose a couple War Griffons as the Generals are almost impossibly difficult
to kill until you discover their weaknesses. Once you find their weaknesses,
however, you'll be able to take them out in a matter of seconds, and
virtually unscathed. The level of control in BattleMorph is simply unequaled
in any other video game. Limits are placed on how high you can climb and how
low you can dive, but you can otherwise move freely about in this 3D
environment. Your new War Griffon can travel underground (in caves) and
underwater. Many underwater areas are much larger than they first appear and
some will even either damage or heal your ship! Buttons on the regular
Jaguar joypad control forward movement, reverse, left/right, and your basic
dual-shot blasters. Keypad functions include 5 different views, cross hair
display, maps, and specialized weapon selection. The War Griffon has 4 bays
in which to carry specialized weapons that you designate for each individual
bay. 'Don't want decoys in bay A? Put mines there instead! The Jaguar Pro
Controller is supported, and makes weapon selection much easier. The one
thing that made me realize just how much control you have on this game,
however, was the volume level screen. BattleMorph has 6 adjustable volume
levels! 1 for music, 1 for Skylar, 1 for video sequences, etc. I guess if
your day at work involves taking out the entire Pernertian society, you may
as well be comfortable while doing so, right?

The graphics in BattleMorph are something of a mixed bag for me. The game is
full of gouraud shaded polygons and both static and animated texture maps,
but I actually like the plain looking graphics of Cybermorph better. At
first I though it was because they had mixed gouraud shading and texture
maps instead of going completely one way or the other. I then realized
Missile Command 3D does the same thing, and it looks absolutely stunning! I
have therefore come to the conclusion that they just did it wrong. All the
polygons are dull drab colors, but the texture maps are rich and bright. The
t-maps look beautiful, but simply don't mix well with the surrounding
scenery. Horizons now have 2D bitmapped images, which helps distract from
'pop-up,' and other highlights include incredible underwater scenes! The
graphics underwater look like they're underwater. Visibility diminishes
quickly and everything has a wavy similar to MC3D. 'Very well done! The full
motion video is nice, and it's interesting enough to watch. Luckily, Atari
seems to have this habit of using tasteful, small amounts of FMV in their
games.

The sound on this CD is nothing short of spectacular. All the effects, and
especially the explosions, have a real bass rumble to them. I suggest you
hook up your Jag to the stereo and crank it! Just be sure to remove all
fragile valuables from the room before you do this, though, because the room
WILL shake. The music is mostly made up of groovy soft rock beats and really
enhances the mood of the game.

Overall, BattleMorph is an excellent sequel to Cybermorph. The game is HUGE
and offers tons of replayability. Though the Pro Controller is supported,
it's not a necessity for this game. A memory track, however, is! Without
one, you might get sick of BattleMorph in a matter of 1 to 2 weeks. The
graphics are nice, but just don't mix all too well. The sound is incredible,
and music is groovy. The thing that possibly impresses me the most about
BattleMorph, though, are the load times. There aren't any! Well, there are,
but they only last 1 or 2 seconds when they happen at all. The changes from
air to water are instant! The changes from tunnels to rooms are instant! It
seems the only loading takes place between levels, but that doesn't take
long at all. Considering the size of this game, and the minor complexity of
the graphics, it should take much longer that it does. However Atari
accomplished this, I'm glad they did. It's a definite plus for this game!